


Phenakistiscope

by CelestialArcadia



Series: SOSH Guess the Author Prompt Fills [2]
Category: Good Omens (TV)
Genre: 1830s, Fluff, Other, POV Aziraphale (Good Omens), POV Third Person Limited, Post-Good Omens, time skip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:46:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25623853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CelestialArcadia/pseuds/CelestialArcadia
Summary: Aziraphale finds a fascinating new invention: the phenakistiscope, a disk with pictures that appear to move when you spin it. He wants to show it off to Crowley, but things go a bit strange...For about 180 years, anyway. But what are two centuries to a pair of immortals?
Relationships: Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens)
Series: SOSH Guess the Author Prompt Fills [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1865545
Comments: 10
Kudos: 23
Collections: Aspec-friendly Good Omens, SOSH - Guess the Author #3 "Dancing"





	Phenakistiscope

_1834_

Aziraphale was not, it must be said, in the habit of scoping out his competition, so to speak. Not as an angel (except by a very loose definition of “scoping out” and a definition of “competition” that consists solely of one particular demon), and certainly not as a bookseller.

But you never knew when you might find a good deal.

On this day, he was surprised by the small shop he had entered—the displays near the front shop were cleared out, replaced with a large table, on top of which sat a multitude of paper disks. When Aziraphale picked one up, he saw that it was covered in near-identical images of a dancing couple.

“Oh, Mr Fell!” the shopkeeper exclaimed. “It’s been some time since I’ve seen you here, sir. I hope you’re doing well?”

“Very well,” Aziraphale responded before gesturing to the disk he was holding. “What are these here?”

“You haven’t heard? Phenakistiscopes have become quite popular over the past few months. The pictures create the illusion of movement when you spin it—go, try it yourself.”

Aziraphale spun the disk, and it was as Mr Shopkeep said; the two people on the disk seemed to dance elegantly, as if they were real and not merely drawings.

He was fascinated. Oh, how inventive humans could be.

“I’ll buy this one.”

* * *

_Still 1834_

Aziraphale spun the phenakistiscope, showing the illusion to his companion. The couple on the wheel danced for them.

Crowley whistled. “A bit like a portable magic lantern, isn’t it?”

They talked a bit more about it. However, when Aziraphale looked back down, he noticed a striking change—the man and woman on the wheel were no longer there, replaced with—two man-shaped beings, one in dark colors and the other in light—

“Oh, er, sorry, I, er, I think I see Gabriel over there—angel business, you see, have to leave—”

Aziraphale stormed back to his bookshop and packed the phenakistiscope away.

* * *

_Some Time After the Not-Quite-End of the World_

“I’m telling you, Crowley, my organizational system is _perfectly_ adequate,” Aziraphale said as he went through a box of Victorian-era knick-knacks.

“Uh-huh,” Crowley replied in a deadpan tone, standing behind him.

“But everyone loses things occa—oh.”

Aziraphale held up the paper disk he had just uncovered—the phenakistiscope he had bought nearly two hundred years earlier. It was in much better condition than it ought to be after so much time.

“That looks like the wheel thing you showed me in the 30s,” Crowley said. “1830s, I mean. You know.”

“It is.”

“I don’t remember it having _us_ on it, though.”

“It didn’t, but I...was too in love for my own good, I think.”

“Hmm.”

Crowley reached out and carefully spun the wheel. The two of them watched themselves perform a small, elegant dance, topped off with a kiss.

“I like it better this way, though.”

Aziraphale smiled. “So do I.”


End file.
